1. A Chair for My Mother By. Vera B. Williams
-This book is about a girl that wants to buy her mother a comfortable chair. She is saving up her money in a jar in order to buy the most comfortable chair because her mother works on her feet all day long. One day their apartment catches fire, but the firefighters help out it out. Once they found a new apartment all the neighbors helped them move in. Then the girl saves enough money to buy her mom the chair, and she goes to the bank, and later to the stores. Her mom is very happy to get such a comfortable chair.
2. Good-bye, Curtis By. Kevin Henkes Pictures by. Marisabina Russo
-This book is about a mail man who is retiring from his career. The community says their last goodbyes to Curtis. People in the community have been giving him gives all day long. As curtis walks to his last mailbox, he is surpised with a party. The entire community got together to throw Curtis a good bye party. At the end he write them all a thank you letter.
3. Home By. jeannie Baker
-This book is a wordless book. This picture book illustrates how a neighborhood has changed over the years. This book is special to Jeanine because it allows others to see the importance of home, and how the community can contribute to having a "home".
4. A Big City abc By. Allan Moak
This is a simple book that goes from A thru Z. Every letter of the alphbet describes a part of the city or the community. It shows the different elements a community has in it.
5. Career Day By Ann F. Rockwell Illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell
- On Career Day the children in Mrs. Madoff's class take turns introducing special visitors. Every visitor has something interesting to share, and together the class learns all about the different work people do.
Websites
1. Scholastic- This website gives teachers great resources to use in the classroom that teaches second graders about the community. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/search?query=community+
2. Teacher Created Resources- This website has links of materials one can use with the thematic unit of community. It has resources for the different topics that can be covered about the community. http://www.buyteachercreated.com/estore/product/2469
3. Hot Chalk Lesson Plan page- This website is a great resource for ideas that can be used in a lesson plan, and gret handon activites the students can do and learn about. http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSK1.htm
4. Teachers Corner.net- This website will help with lesson plans on community helpers. This will teach the students about all the different types of community workers. http://www.theteacherscorner.net/lesson-plans/socialstudies/helpers.htm
5. Concept Maps- This website has various types of concept maps the students can use if there is not kidpiration in the classroom. This can be printed or the teacher can incorporate technology by haivng the students type in the boxes provided. The students can write about the different kinds of communities, or write about what makes up a community. http://www.2learn.ca/construct/graphicorg/concept/conceptmapindex.html#
Damaris Rodriguez
Internet Search: by Stephnie Sahadeo ·“Kids and Communities” http://www.planning.org/kidsandcommunity/index.htm This website is entitled “Kids and Communities”.The website is available to help kids explore the community. This website is a good resource for students and teachers. The activities on this page will be very useful to teachers. The website has a couple links for students to better understand concepts such as city planning. The website is a very easy to read site. ·“K-2 Social Studies” http://www.pbs.org/teachers/classroom/k-2/social-studies/resources/ This website is entitled “Social Studies.” This is a site not made by one specific person but by many. As a teacher, you can upload and helpful resources or can participate in a discussion. This site is a PBS site for teachers. It is an easy to use teacher resource. You can browse the site for many different units as well as subject areas. This website is not the home page. It provides teachers with many resources including lesson plans and great ideas. ·“Social Studies in Action: A Teaching Practices Library, K-12” http://www.learner.org/resources/series166.html This is website is entitled “Social Studies in Action: A Teaching Practices Library, K-12.” This website is mainly for teachers. It is backed up by the National Council for social Studies. It has helpful resources in a video form. It consists of 29 half hour videos and 3 one hour videos. It also has a library guide. All of these videos consist of helpful units on different topics in Social Studies. Through these videos you can find helpful videos on community aspects. ·“Social Studies Teacher Resources” http://www.teachervision.fen.com/social-studies/teacher-resources/43744.html This website is entitled “Social Studies Teacher Resources”. This website has is a website mainly for teachers. It has printables, lessons, and quizzes that a teacher can use in their classroom. This website has literature guides, maps, references, and technology resources to help you teach your students about families, diversity, and religion. All of these topics are related to the community. ·“Social Studies Lesson Plans” http://www.theteacherscorner.net/lesson-plans/socialstudies/index.htm This website is entitled “Social Studies Lesson Plans”. This website has tons of great lesson plan ideas related to the community. Not only does it give you great ideas; it also tells you exactly what grade the lesson plans are specific for. This website is mainly for teachers. Literature List: by Stephnie Sahadeo ·“The Great City Search”, Usborne Books.EDC Publishing, 2003
This is a great book for second graders. It is a fun easy to read short story. It is about a town and its members. A new pool was built in the town. It took many of the members to help build the pool. The mayor of the town wants the reader to help invite all of the members of the town to the opening celebration. This book is helpful to the students to explore different members of the community. The teacher can use this book as an in class activity. ·“Communities” by Sarah L. Schette
This book is an easy to read nonfiction book with 24 pages. It is a book with many facts on a community. This book has a table of contents, a glossary, and an index. It also has a page for students to check out other books based on the community. It also has a section for educational websites where the students can go for extra fun stuff. The book has wonderful pictures. ·“Town and Country” by Alice and Martin Provensen
This book is perfect for elementary students. It is all about places to live in the world. The book shows you different places like villages, towns, and cities. It shows the students everything that they will see in these places like buildings, cars, docks, people, schools, and stores. This book is very culture oriented. The students will love this book.It has many pictures that go along with the text.
·“Metropolis” by Albert Lorenz and Joy Schleh
This book is good to have for the students to look at for fun. This book is a little bit hard for a second grade student to read. The students will be able to read some of the text and use the pictures and their imagination to know the rest. As a teacher, you can read a snippet of this book to the students a day. The book is about touring over cities.
·“My Town” by Rebbeca Treays and Illustrations by Rachel Wells
This book is an easy to read nonfiction book of 24 pages. The book shows what the individual town looked like 300 years ago and compared to what the town looks like now. This book is helpful for the students to think about the past and relate it to the future. It helps to connect past and prior knowledge.
JENNIFER BUSHNELL:
Websites
iLearn Projects http://www.iearn.org/projects/index.html
This website allows you to browse through a large amount of projects available for students to participate in around the community and in the classroom, all designed by teachers and students. You can search by title or keyword, or can narrow the search by subject, age level, and language as well. Examples of a social studies project for ages 5-11 are: “Feeding Minds Fighting Hunger- A global education initiative to raise awareness of hunger, malnutrition and food security around the world” and “Talking Kites All Over the World- A tradition of flying kites with personal and group images of our dreams for a better world.”
My Hero http://www.myhero.com/myhero/home.asp
This website is one that helps teachers and students utilize media and technology to show how they can take part in making the world a better place. Projects, pictures, murals, videos, and much more can be found on this website, and also can be submitted to it.
Field Trip http://www.hud.gov/kids/field1.html
This website contains virtual field trips to different places in the community- city hall, library, and the park.
Planet Patrol http://www.pbs.org/teachers/connect/resources/5177/preview/
This website is designed for kids to learn about the different ways that they can protect the earth in an interactive and engaging format. There is a section for teachers and a section for students.
Building a Neighborhood http://www.pbs.org/parents/rogers/theme/1566_p_act.html
Although this page says it is an activity for ages 3-5, I definitely think it could be modified for second graders and that they would have a lot of fun building parts of a community like this lesson has set up.
Books
Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
This is an autobiography about the author’s experiences with having dyslexia and trouble learning in school, dealing with bullies, and how her teacher really made a difference in her life, becoming her hero.
Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen by Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan
This is a very touching book about a boy who accompanies Uncle Willie to the soup kitchen where he works, experiencing what his uncle does for people in need, Uncle Willie treats his visitors as special guests rather than strangers, and this book demonstrates the importance of helping the community, volunteering, and reaching out to people in need. It is a great book to introduce discussion on poverty, food drives, and ways to volunteer in the community.
Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace by Shelley Moore Thomas
This book contains photographs ofpeople from all different cultures from different parts of the world making a difference through simple gestures, kind words, and helpful, compassionate actions. Each page begins with how “somewhere today…” someone is doing something to help someone else or to make a difference. For example, “Somewhere today…someone is being a friend instead of fighting.” This book is a great way to show kids that they can be a hero and make a difference in everyday ways with simple gestures of kindness. This book shows the importance of peace, friendship, and kindness, and how each person can create a positive change in their own ways.
Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
This book is about finding beauty in your life and in the world around you, finding ways to make a difference in someone’s life, your community, or the world around you. It also is a gentle reminder that love and compassion in a person’s heart is the most beautiful thing a person can have.
Grandpa Loved by Josephine Nobisso
This book is about a boy remembering all the things that his grandfather loved about the environment, the city he lived in, talking to people, and hearing stories about their lives. Most of all, he loved his family and instilled his love for all those things into his grandson, teaching him ways to make a difference.
Rohani Jadonath Internet Search and Literature List Thematic Unit – Communities (2nd grade) Hot Chalk – Lesson Plans Pagehttp://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSK1.htm This website is filled with many creative and unique lessons plans that teachers can use to get ideas of activities to do in the classroom.I focused on the topic of communities and I found lessons on creating a classroom community, classroom diversity, transportation in the community, and so much more!This website also includes newsletters that educators can use to enhance their knowledge on different topics and have discussions with other teachers.It also shares free online classroom tools for educators.It is a great website to pull resources from to use with lessons in the classroom.
Orange County Regional History Centerhttp://www.thehistorycenter.org This website is a great tool for enhancing my knowledge of the subject area.The site includes descriptions of the different exhibitions at the history center.It also has a calendar of events, programs for educators, lesson plans, and newsletters.Students can also use this website to learn about the different exhibitions to get ideas for activities that can be done in the classroom.Teachers can also use the calendar of events to plan field trips to take their students to the history center.
PBS Teachers Social Studieshttp://www.pbs.org/teachers/socialstudies This is an amazing website that has great resources for content area lessons!The content is organized by grade level and subject.There are many PDF files that explain resources, topics, and activities.There are also sections on the website that include professional development, teacher discussions, and lesson plans.I found great ideas for my unit plan on communities.For example, there is information and activities about recycling, traffic signs, building a neighborhood community, community helpers, and so much more!
Weekly Readerhttp://www.weeklyreader.com This weekly reader website has resources for kids, teens, and teachers.The weekly reader company creates magazines for students.These magazines teach and review different subject areas in Social Studies.There are also games and puzzles for students to use to review what they have learned.This is a great source to have when teaching any Social Studies unit because it can be used to supplement lessons and it serves as a different learning tool for students to use.
Time for Kidshttp://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers This website is a great resource for students and has teaching aids for teachers to use in the classroom.This company produces magazines for children to read and learn about current issues, past issues, and other things from around the world.It also has learning aids such as worksheets, quizzes, and graphic organizers.Using this website and these magazines as a resource will enhance knowledge of the subject area content.It is also a creative way to get students interested and motivated to learn about different issues and topics.
Henry Cisneros – A Hard Working Mayor – By: Rita Petrucelli This is a great biography book to use to introduce a lesson on what a mayor does in a community.It is about the life of a man named Henry Cisneros and how he became the mayor of San Antonio.This book is also great to use because it talks about the Hispanic culture.If I have Hispanic ELL students in my class, they would be able to relate to this book.
A Trip to the City – By: Playmore Waldman This is a pop-up book which is great to use with visual learners!It is about a family that took a trip into the city.The father took his children to visit different places in the community.These places include a park, museum, baseball field, and sky scraper buildings.There are great illustrations in this book that show the variety of places that are found in a community.
Mr. Garbage – By: William H. Hooks This children’s book is about recycling and how people in the community celebrate Earth Day.It discusses what Earth Day is and why it is important to so many people who care about the environment as well as their community.A young boy in the story becomes interested in recycling and motivated people in his community to recycle.This book can be used to introduce the topic of recycling and can also teach about Earth Day.
Career Day – By: Anne Rockwell This book is about a group of students who bring visitors in their classroom to discuss careers.Some of the careers that are discussed are construction, management, roles in the courtroom, nursing, veterinarians, and so much more!Careers are a major part of how the community works.I would use this book as an introduction to a lesson about the different roles that people play in a community.
C is for City – By: Nikki Grimes This is a great book to use as a review of the alphabet!The story goes through each letter of the alphabet and names things and places that are found in a city and community.This is a great way for students to use the pictures in the book and relate them to the things and places that make up a community.
Tahreer Maswadi
October 20, 2009
Internet search:
1. PBS For Teachers http://www.pbs.org/teachers/
This website provides classroom activities, lesson plans and resources for teachers. It provides all of the needs resources for every subject (math, social studies ect.) for all of the grade levels (K-12). What caught my attention on this website is the resources they provide for the different cultures within the community. Under social studies/ classroom resources, the website provides activities that can be conducted on children that explain the different cultures within a social group. Since my topic is on cultures within a community I think this website is a great source to use for the different activities they provide.
2. Children Songs about Our Community http://www.songsforteaching.com/everyday/everydayroutines.htm
This is a fun and creative website that provides songs about the different jobs, routines and tasks around our community. This is definitely a fun website to use with kids and get to learn in a creative and fun way. They provide songs on the community members, work and occupation. You can listen to the song on the computer; you can download it or print it out for the students.
3. City Creator http://www.citycreator.com/
This is a very fun and interactive website for kids. Students can build their own city or town, they can drop and add pieces to their cities (such as: building, people, streets, and schools). We can have students build their own city and include the different communities they have learned about. They can add anything from police officers to different types of buildings. This is a fun and interactive websites for younger students.
4. Interactive resources http://www.globalclassroom.org/ecell00/javamath.html
This is fun and interactive website for kids. It provides all of the different subject area. In the social studies section it provides games, worksheet and different search engines for kids. what I liked most about the website is that it provided unique graphic organizers that kids can use in social studies, so they would definitely be beneficial for our community topic
5. Classroom Library http://www.awesomelibrary.org/
This is one of my favorite website. It provides so many resources for social studies on all different topics. It provides actual print outs we can use in the classroom, and interactive activities students can do online. Also, it’s beneficial for teachers; it provides sample lesson plans and classroom activity ideas.
Literature List:
1. Community helpers from A-Z by Bobbie Kalman
This is a fun book to read to students they get the chance to meet people of different nationalities who make our communities cleaner, safer and more pleasant. This alphabet book includes such helpers as police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers and veterinarians. Students get to learn about the different jobs in the community and how each one is a great asset to help make a safe community. Also, we have the students do many fun and creative activities using this book. They can “Build a Character” in their community
2. What is a community from A-Z by Bobbie Kalman
This informative book discusses the common aspects shared by most communities’ people,
culture, government, economy, buildings, services, and transportation. The book highlights different kinds of communities and discusses how the physical features of their location impact on their way of life. It also looks at how communities are interdependent and reminds children that planet Earth is their most important community. Children will also read about: environment, family, rules zoos and parks.
3. My Neighborhood: Place and Faces by Bullard and Lisa
This book allows students to explore around Libbie's neighborhood as she shows off her favorite spots and the people who go with them. Then you can map out for yourself the places and faces in your neighborhood that you like best. This is a good book to use with students and have them compare and contracts their neighborhood with Libbie’s neighborhood.
4. Where do I live by Neil Chesanow
Chesanow begins in a child's room, places it in a home, on a street, in a town, and then in a city and state, country, continent, the world. And that world is called Earth, which is a planet in the solar system. Then the child is drawn back to a page of questions about the reader's own street, town, state, and so on. The ink drawings with bright watercolor washes will appeal to many children, though, and so will the book's central idea.
5. Our Communities by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
This book is both beneficial for teacher and students. It provides five different units on the community: people build communities, communities have history, communities at work, communities have government and many cultures one country. Each unit provides an overview on each topic, definitions and group work. There is a teacher’s guide available as well
Book List
1. A Chair for My Mother By. Vera B. Williams-This book is about a girl that wants to buy her mother a comfortable chair. She is saving up her money in a jar in order to buy the most comfortable chair because her mother works on her feet all day long. One day their apartment catches fire, but the firefighters help out it out. Once they found a new apartment all the neighbors helped them move in. Then the girl saves enough money to buy her mom the chair, and she goes to the bank, and later to the stores. Her mom is very happy to get such a comfortable chair.
2. Good-bye, Curtis By. Kevin Henkes Pictures by. Marisabina Russo
-This book is about a mail man who is retiring from his career. The community says their last goodbyes to Curtis. People in the community have been giving him gives all day long. As curtis walks to his last mailbox, he is surpised with a party. The entire community got together to throw Curtis a good bye party. At the end he write them all a thank you letter.
3. Home By. jeannie Baker
-This book is a wordless book. This picture book illustrates how a neighborhood has changed over the years. This book is special to Jeanine because it allows others to see the importance of home, and how the community can contribute to having a "home".
4. A Big City abc By. Allan Moak
This is a simple book that goes from A thru Z. Every letter of the alphbet describes a part of the city or the community. It shows the different elements a community has in it.
5. Career Day By Ann F. Rockwell Illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell
- On Career Day the children in Mrs. Madoff's class take turns introducing special visitors. Every visitor has something interesting to share, and together the class learns all about the different work people do.
Websites
1. Scholastic- This website gives teachers great resources to use in the classroom that teaches second graders about the community.http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/search?query=community+
2. Teacher Created Resources- This website has links of materials one can use with the thematic unit of community. It has resources for the different topics that can be covered about the community.
http://www.buyteachercreated.com/estore/product/2469
3. Hot Chalk Lesson Plan page- This website is a great resource for ideas that can be used in a lesson plan, and gret handon activites the students can do and learn about.
http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSK1.htm
4. Teachers Corner.net- This website will help with lesson plans on community helpers. This will teach the students about all the different types of community workers.
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/lesson-plans/socialstudies/helpers.htm
5. Concept Maps- This website has various types of concept maps the students can use if there is not kidpiration in the classroom. This can be printed or the teacher can incorporate technology by haivng the students type in the boxes provided. The students can write about the different kinds of communities, or write about what makes up a community.
http://www.2learn.ca/construct/graphicorg/concept/conceptmapindex.html#
Damaris Rodriguez
Internet Search: by Stephnie Sahadeo
· “Kids and Communities”
http://www.planning.org/kidsandcommunity/index.htm
This website is entitled “Kids and Communities”. The website is available to help kids explore the community. This website is a good resource for students and teachers. The activities on this page will be very useful to teachers. The website has a couple links for students to better understand concepts such as city planning. The website is a very easy to read site.
· “K-2 Social Studies”
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/classroom/k-2/social-studies/resources/
This website is entitled “Social Studies.” This is a site not made by one specific person but by many. As a teacher, you can upload and helpful resources or can participate in a discussion. This site is a PBS site for teachers. It is an easy to use teacher resource. You can browse the site for many different units as well as subject areas. This website is not the home page. It provides teachers with many resources including lesson plans and great ideas.
· “Social Studies in Action: A Teaching Practices Library, K-12”
http://www.learner.org/resources/series166.html
This is website is entitled “Social Studies in Action: A Teaching Practices Library, K-12.” This website is mainly for teachers. It is backed up by the National Council for social Studies. It has helpful resources in a video form. It consists of 29 half hour videos and 3 one hour videos. It also has a library guide. All of these videos consist of helpful units on different topics in Social Studies. Through these videos you can find helpful videos on community aspects.
· “Social Studies Teacher Resources”
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/social-studies/teacher-resources/43744.html
This website is entitled “Social Studies Teacher Resources”. This website has is a website mainly for teachers. It has printables, lessons, and quizzes that a teacher can use in their classroom. This website has literature guides, maps, references, and technology resources to help you teach your students about families, diversity, and religion. All of these topics are related to the community.
· “Social Studies Lesson Plans”
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/lesson-plans/socialstudies/index.htm
This website is entitled “Social Studies Lesson Plans”. This website has tons of great lesson plan ideas related to the community. Not only does it give you great ideas; it also tells you exactly what grade the lesson plans are specific for. This website is mainly for teachers.
Literature List: by Stephnie Sahadeo
· “The Great City Search”, Usborne Books. EDC Publishing, 2003
This is a great book for second graders. It is a fun easy to read short story. It is about a town and its members. A new pool was built in the town. It took many of the members to help build the pool. The mayor of the town wants the reader to help invite all of the members of the town to the opening celebration. This book is helpful to the students to explore different members of the community. The teacher can use this book as an in class activity.
· “Communities” by Sarah L. Schette
This book is an easy to read nonfiction book with 24 pages. It is a book with many facts on a community. This book has a table of contents, a glossary, and an index. It also has a page for students to check out other books based on the community. It also has a section for educational websites where the students can go for extra fun stuff. The book has wonderful pictures.
· “Town and Country” by Alice and Martin Provensen
This book is perfect for elementary students. It is all about places to live in the world. The book shows you different places like villages, towns, and cities. It shows the students everything that they will see in these places like buildings, cars, docks, people, schools, and stores. This book is very culture oriented. The students will love this book. It has many pictures that go along with the text.
· “Metropolis” by Albert Lorenz and Joy Schleh
This book is good to have for the students to look at for fun. This book is a little bit hard for a second grade student to read. The students will be able to read some of the text and use the pictures and their imagination to know the rest. As a teacher, you can read a snippet of this book to the students a day. The book is about touring over cities.
· “My Town” by Rebbeca Treays and Illustrations by Rachel Wells
This book is an easy to read nonfiction book of 24 pages. The book shows what the individual town looked like 300 years ago and compared to what the town looks like now. This book is helpful for the students to think about the past and relate it to the future. It helps to connect past and prior knowledge.
JENNIFER BUSHNELL:
Websites
iLearn Projects
http://www.iearn.org/projects/index.html
This website allows you to browse through a large amount of projects available for students to participate in around the community and in the classroom, all designed by teachers and students. You can search by title or keyword, or can narrow the search by subject, age level, and language as well. Examples of a social studies project for ages 5-11 are: “Feeding Minds Fighting Hunger- A global education initiative to raise awareness of hunger, malnutrition and food security around the world” and “Talking Kites All Over the World- A tradition of flying kites with personal and group images of our dreams for a better world.”
My Hero
http://www.myhero.com/myhero/home.asp
This website is one that helps teachers and students utilize media and technology to show how they can take part in making the world a better place. Projects, pictures, murals, videos, and much more can be found on this website, and also can be submitted to it.
Field Trip
http://www.hud.gov/kids/field1.html
This website contains virtual field trips to different places in the community- city hall, library, and the park.
Planet Patrol
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/connect/resources/5177/preview/
This website is designed for kids to learn about the different ways that they can protect the earth in an interactive and engaging format. There is a section for teachers and a section for students.
Building a Neighborhood
http://www.pbs.org/parents/rogers/theme/1566_p_act.html
Although this page says it is an activity for ages 3-5, I definitely think it could be modified for second graders and that they would have a lot of fun building parts of a community like this lesson has set up.
Books
Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
This is an autobiography about the author’s experiences with having dyslexia and trouble learning in school, dealing with bullies, and how her teacher really made a difference in her life, becoming her hero.
Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen by Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan
This is a very touching book about a boy who accompanies Uncle Willie to the soup kitchen where he works, experiencing what his uncle does for people in need, Uncle Willie treats his visitors as special guests rather than strangers, and this book demonstrates the importance of helping the community, volunteering, and reaching out to people in need. It is a great book to introduce discussion on poverty, food drives, and ways to volunteer in the community.
Somewhere Today: A Book of Peace by Shelley Moore Thomas
This book contains photographs of people from all different cultures from different parts of the world making a difference through simple gestures, kind words, and helpful, compassionate actions. Each page begins with how “somewhere today…” someone is doing something to help someone else or to make a difference. For example, “Somewhere today…someone is being a friend instead of fighting.” This book is a great way to show kids that they can be a hero and make a difference in everyday ways with simple gestures of kindness. This book shows the importance of peace, friendship, and kindness, and how each person can create a positive change in their own ways.
Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
This book is about finding beauty in your life and in the world around you, finding ways to make a difference in someone’s life, your community, or the world around you. It also is a gentle reminder that love and compassion in a person’s heart is the most beautiful thing a person can have.
Grandpa Loved by Josephine Nobisso
This book is about a boy remembering all the things that his grandfather loved about the environment, the city he lived in, talking to people, and hearing stories about their lives. Most of all, he loved his family and instilled his love for all those things into his grandson, teaching him ways to make a difference.
Rohani Jadonath
Internet Search and Literature List
Thematic Unit – Communities (2nd grade)
Hot Chalk – Lesson Plans Page http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSK1.htm
This website is filled with many creative and unique lessons plans that teachers can use to get ideas of activities to do in the classroom. I focused on the topic of communities and I found lessons on creating a classroom community, classroom diversity, transportation in the community, and so much more! This website also includes newsletters that educators can use to enhance their knowledge on different topics and have discussions with other teachers. It also shares free online classroom tools for educators. It is a great website to pull resources from to use with lessons in the classroom.
Orange County Regional History Center http://www.thehistorycenter.org
This website is a great tool for enhancing my knowledge of the subject area. The site includes descriptions of the different exhibitions at the history center. It also has a calendar of events, programs for educators, lesson plans, and newsletters. Students can also use this website to learn about the different exhibitions to get ideas for activities that can be done in the classroom. Teachers can also use the calendar of events to plan field trips to take their students to the history center.
PBS Teachers Social Studies http://www.pbs.org/teachers/socialstudies
This is an amazing website that has great resources for content area lessons! The content is organized by grade level and subject. There are many PDF files that explain resources, topics, and activities. There are also sections on the website that include professional development, teacher discussions, and lesson plans. I found great ideas for my unit plan on communities. For example, there is information and activities about recycling, traffic signs, building a neighborhood community, community helpers, and so much more!
Weekly Reader http://www.weeklyreader.com
This weekly reader website has resources for kids, teens, and teachers. The weekly reader company creates magazines for students. These magazines teach and review different subject areas in Social Studies. There are also games and puzzles for students to use to review what they have learned. This is a great source to have when teaching any Social Studies unit because it can be used to supplement lessons and it serves as a different learning tool for students to use.
Time for Kids http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers
This website is a great resource for students and has teaching aids for teachers to use in the classroom. This company produces magazines for children to read and learn about current issues, past issues, and other things from around the world. It also has learning aids such as worksheets, quizzes, and graphic organizers. Using this website and these magazines as a resource will enhance knowledge of the subject area content. It is also a creative way to get students interested and motivated to learn about different issues and topics.
Henry Cisneros – A Hard Working Mayor – By: Rita Petrucelli
This is a great biography book to use to introduce a lesson on what a mayor does in a community. It is about the life of a man named Henry Cisneros and how he became the mayor of San Antonio. This book is also great to use because it talks about the Hispanic culture. If I have Hispanic ELL students in my class, they would be able to relate to this book.
A Trip to the City – By: Playmore Waldman
This is a pop-up book which is great to use with visual learners! It is about a family that took a trip into the city. The father took his children to visit different places in the community. These places include a park, museum, baseball field, and sky scraper buildings. There are great illustrations in this book that show the variety of places that are found in a community.
Mr. Garbage – By: William H. Hooks
This children’s book is about recycling and how people in the community celebrate Earth Day. It discusses what Earth Day is and why it is important to so many people who care about the environment as well as their community. A young boy in the story becomes interested in recycling and motivated people in his community to recycle. This book can be used to introduce the topic of recycling and can also teach about Earth Day.
Career Day – By: Anne Rockwell
This book is about a group of students who bring visitors in their classroom to discuss careers. Some of the careers that are discussed are construction, management, roles in the courtroom, nursing, veterinarians, and so much more! Careers are a major part of how the community works. I would use this book as an introduction to a lesson about the different roles that people play in a community.
C is for City – By: Nikki Grimes
This is a great book to use as a review of the alphabet! The story goes through each letter of the alphabet and names things and places that are found in a city and community. This is a great way for students to use the pictures in the book and relate them to the things and places that make up a community.
Tahreer Maswadi
October 20, 2009
Internet search:
1. PBS For Teachers
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/
This website provides classroom activities, lesson plans and resources for teachers. It provides all of the needs resources for every subject (math, social studies ect.) for all of the grade levels (K-12). What caught my attention on this website is the resources they provide for the different cultures within the community. Under social studies/ classroom resources, the website provides activities that can be conducted on children that explain the different cultures within a social group. Since my topic is on cultures within a community I think this website is a great source to use for the different activities they provide.
2. Children Songs about Our Community
http://www.songsforteaching.com/everyday/everydayroutines.htm
This is a fun and creative website that provides songs about the different jobs, routines and tasks around our community. This is definitely a fun website to use with kids and get to learn in a creative and fun way. They provide songs on the community members, work and occupation. You can listen to the song on the computer; you can download it or print it out for the students.
3. City Creator
http://www.citycreator.com/
This is a very fun and interactive website for kids. Students can build their own city or town, they can drop and add pieces to their cities (such as: building, people, streets, and schools). We can have students build their own city and include the different communities they have learned about. They can add anything from police officers to different types of buildings. This is a fun and interactive websites for younger students.
4. Interactive resources
http://www.globalclassroom.org/ecell00/javamath.html
This is fun and interactive website for kids. It provides all of the different subject area. In the social studies section it provides games, worksheet and different search engines for kids. what I liked most about the website is that it provided unique graphic organizers that kids can use in social studies, so they would definitely be beneficial for our community topic
5. Classroom Library
http://www.awesomelibrary.org/
This is one of my favorite website. It provides so many resources for social studies on all different topics. It provides actual print outs we can use in the classroom, and interactive activities students can do online. Also, it’s beneficial for teachers; it provides sample lesson plans and classroom activity ideas.
Literature List:
1. Community helpers from A-Z by Bobbie Kalman
This is a fun book to read to students they get the chance to meet people of different nationalities who make our communities cleaner, safer and more pleasant. This alphabet book includes such helpers as police officers, firefighters, sanitation workers and veterinarians. Students get to learn about the different jobs in the community and how each one is a great asset to help make a safe community. Also, we have the students do many fun and creative activities using this book. They can “Build a Character” in their community
2. What is a community from A-Z by Bobbie Kalman
This informative book discusses the common aspects shared by most communities’ people,
culture, government, economy, buildings, services, and transportation. The book highlights different kinds of communities and discusses how the physical features of their location impact on their way of life. It also looks at how communities are interdependent and reminds children that planet Earth is their most important community. Children will also read about: environment, family, rules zoos and parks.
3. My Neighborhood: Place and Faces by Bullard and Lisa
This book allows students to explore around Libbie's neighborhood as she shows off her favorite spots and the people who go with them. Then you can map out for yourself the places and faces in your neighborhood that you like best. This is a good book to use with students and have them compare and contracts their neighborhood with Libbie’s neighborhood.
4. Where do I live by Neil Chesanow
Chesanow begins in a child's room, places it in a home, on a street, in a town, and then in a city and state, country, continent, the world. And that world is called Earth, which is a planet in the solar system. Then the child is drawn back to a page of questions about the reader's own street, town, state, and so on. The ink drawings with bright watercolor washes will appeal to many children, though, and so will the book's central idea.
5. Our Communities by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
This book is both beneficial for teacher and students. It provides five different units on the community: people build communities, communities have history, communities at work, communities have government and many cultures one country. Each unit provides an overview on each topic, definitions and group work. There is a teacher’s guide available as well
Tahreer Maswadi